Partition table corrupted

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.file_system (More info?)

Stephane Mabille wrote:

> I upgraded my server motherboard, reinstalled Windows 2000
> server to get the proper drivers installed, etc..
> Everything worked fine except that my drive letters where
> not correct.... and then I was (sooooo) stupid:
> I reassigned them using the disk manager without
> installing any SP first and of course on a large drive!
> So my partition table is corrupted and my disk is
> unbootable.
> How can I fix that (hopefully nothing should have been
> deleted beside the partition table) and I have a spare XP
> SP1 system if needed to connect the drive.
> As you might guess I would like to recover the data
> present on the drive as I don't have backup and as it's a
> small network the W2K was the only controller in the
> domain... so the forest root would need to be recovered
> too!
>
> Thanks.
FWIW, and I realize this was quite a different context, but the only way
I found to recover a laptop drive whose partition table got messed up
was to boot a Linux startup disk. Then, it is possible to use the linux
Fdisk command to sort things out. Of course, any backup you would be
able to do before attempting this might come in handy!!! But this saved
my day. If you come up with a utility that help you solve the problem
differently, I for one would love knowing about it.

Good luck

--
John Doue

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.file_system (More info?)

Hi John,

I have downloaded a bunch of utilities that are supposed
to scan the drive and fix the table, Partition Table
Doctor seems to have lots of positive feedbacks.

I'll test the lot tonight and keep you informed. As I
found several utilities that should do the job I was
looking for the best one before giving a try, just to
avoid ruining my only chance by running the wrong one!

I'll keep you informed.

Stephane


>-----Original Message-----
>Stephane Mabille wrote:
>
>> I upgraded my server motherboard, reinstalled Windows
2000
>> server to get the proper drivers installed, etc..
>> Everything worked fine except that my drive letters
where
>> not correct.... and then I was (sooooo) stupid:
>> I reassigned them using the disk manager without
>> installing any SP first and of course on a large drive!
>> So my partition table is corrupted and my disk is
>> unbootable.
>> How can I fix that (hopefully nothing should have been
>> deleted beside the partition table) and I have a spare
XP
>> SP1 system if needed to connect the drive.
>> As you might guess I would like to recover the data
>> present on the drive as I don't have backup and as it's
a
>> small network the W2K was the only controller in the
>> domain... so the forest root would need to be recovered
>> too!
>>
>> Thanks.
>FWIW, and I realize this was quite a different context,
but the only way
>I found to recover a laptop drive whose partition table
got messed up
>was to boot a Linux startup disk. Then, it is possible to
use the linux
>Fdisk command to sort things out. Of course, any backup
you would be
>able to do before attempting this might come in handy!!!
But this saved
>my day. If you come up with a utility that help you solve
the problem
>differently, I for one would love knowing about it.
>
>Good luck
>
>--
>John Doue
>.
>